wegner



G. A. WEGNER.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY l3, I9I8.

Patented Dec 16, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

Patented Dec.16,1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

35 a manner that every particle of liquid is evaporated before leaving the cooling ele- UNITED STATES PAT N orrrcn. i

eusravn A. WEGNER, or nocnns'rnn, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALE To wjncivnn MACHINE company, orBUrrALo, NEW YORK, A conrona'rrou.

nnrnrennn'rnve nr-rana'ros.

T all-whom it may concern;

Be it known that-I, GUSTAVE A.,r.o1vn1:, a citizen .of the United.States, and resident of Rochester, in the .county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerating Apparatus, of ,which the'following is a specification.

q The present invention relates to refrig crating apparatus and more particularlyio the type employing a volatile liquid refrig erant, such as ammonia, which is compressed, then conducted to a condenser for liquefication, and, from the latter, to' a cooling element in which the liquid 'is expanded and from which it is reconducted to the compressor.

cooling element. so that the discharge gas is not saturated with liquid, as saturated gas passing to the compressor will destroy the blemeans which requires constant attention.

efliciency of the apparatus. Control of the refrigerant in'the cooling element is now most generally effected by manually operaon the part of an operative and, in addition, is not eflicient. Automatic control has been suggested, but, so far as I am aware,

has been efective in one way or another. It is an object of this invention to provide means for effectively and automatically controlling the quantity of liquid which must be expanded the. cooling elementto accomplish certain desired results 111 511011 ment irrespective of the size of the cooling element or the'number of heat units to be absorbed by said cooling element, as long as the work required is held within the.

capacity of the pump or compressor.

To these and other ends the invention erating apparatus embodying the present inr vention;

Fig. 3 is an axial section through the valve Specification ofLet ters Patent.

I atthe discharge'of thecoo ling element the controlling means of suchv'alve being inbodiment -of the scale and Fig. 5 is'a sectional view of a'pressu're controlled ."valve' arranged to control the liquid supplyxto the cooling element.

The refrigerating apparatus embodies, as usual, a compressor 1 receiving the gas and leading, by piping 2, to a condenser 3 which, by piping 1, leads to a cooling or refrigerating element 5 of any suitable construction.

invention on a smaller Accordingto this invention the quantity of the liquid refrigerant which may be admit ted to the cooling element through the inlet valve depends entirely upon the quantity of discharge gas gwhich is permitted to pass through the outlet valve. The inlet valve 15 so constructed as to permit the Patented Dec. 16, 1919. 7 Application filed may 1a, 1918-. seria no. 234,271.

liquid to enter at a certain predetermined pressure under which it will readily evaporate Within the cooling element. The out- 'let valve controls the quantity. of outgoing gas by the action of a thermostatv which is affected bythe temperature'of such outgoing ,gas.- By partly opening or closing said outlet Atalve the pressure within the cooling element will rise or fall-above or below the expansion pressure and thus shut or open theinlet valve in accordance withitsown action.

The pressure controlled or inlet valve may I be of any suitable construction, that shown (see Fig. 5) comprising the casing formed of two parts 6 and 7. The part 6 has a' passageway therethrough leading to the inlet 8 and' the outlet 9 of the casing. This passagewayis controlled by a plunger valve 10 pressed toward its. seat by a spring 11, a

. piston 12 being formed on the plunger and operating in a cylinder 13. The'piston is" exposed to the inlet pressure and cooperates with other devices to determine the position of the valve. The casing parts 6 and 7 are connected by bolts 14, thepart 7 having a chamber 15which is separated from the out let side of the passageway in the member 6 by means of a diaphragm .16. On one side of this diaphragm a plateor disk-17 is arranged and-is engaged by the projecting end 18 ,of the plunger valve 10, while onthe opposite side of the diaphragm, within the chamber 15, a disk'19 is arranged and is engaged by a coil spring 20. A setting or adjusting screw 21 is mounted on the casing member 7 v I I If this pressure regulating valve is set by the adjusting screw 21 to a pressure corresponding toa -certain boiling point of the liquid refrigerant, it is'evident that a constant temperature will be maintained in the cooling element 5 as long as-the refrigerant remains at the same pressure and in 'a saturated state in the cooling element. If the pressure is so chosen that the temperature of the fluid in the coil is several degrees lower than the medium through which the coil passes, the refrigerant will-be evaporated and the medium will be cooled. It is evident, however, that the difference of temperature between the boiling point of the re-' frigerant in the coil and the temperature of the medium to be cooled, depends upon sev eral factors, such as outside temperature, the length of the cooling coil, and the insulation of the inclosure of the medium. These influences. aredetermined under extreme conditions, and the pressure regulating valve is set so asto constantly carry a suflicient supply of refrigerant into the cooling coil or element to meet the above conditions. 1 It may be here stated that where like conditions exist, as where two or more cooling coils or elements are arranged in one room, one pressure regulating valve will answer for a num ber of cooling elements or-coils.

Having established a substantially constant pressure at the inlet of the cooling element or coil 5 it becomes now important to.

control the outlet from the cooling element or coil so that only a fully evaporated or v dry gas will be conducted to the compressor,

permitting only such gas to pass which has been heated to the temperature of the room or medium surrounding the cooling element. This is accomplished by placing at or-near the outlet of the cooling element or coil, a valve which controls the amount of fluid passing from the coil, and, in turn, is

controlled by a thermostat of any construction which is directly affected by the temperature of the fluid discharged from the cooling element'or coil. Any valve which will perform these functions is within the scope of this-invention.

One form of -valve shown in Fig. 3 comprises a casing formed of two castings 22 and 23 bolted together at 24. The casting or part 22 has the inlet 25,while the casting 23 has the outlet 26. A partition 27 is formed in the casting 23 and is provided with. two openings 28, the walls of which form valve seats. A valve 29 cooperates with the valve-seats and is pressed toward the latter by a coil spring 30 whose opposite end rests against an abutment 31 which is engaged by an adjusting. screw 32 operable from the exterior of the valve casing.

mamas The thermostat which controls the valve lies within the valve" casing in the path of the fluid passing through the casing and, in

- this instance, comprises a casting 33 formed with a reduced portion 34 WlllCll projects through an opening in the casting 22, a shoulder 35 being provided on casting 33 to 40 on the casting 33 by a plate 41 which is secured in'place by bolts l2. One face of this diaphragm is exposed; to the liquid of the thermostat while the opposite face c011 nects with the valve preferably through a.

disk 4:3 having a. projection thereon t t coopcrating with the upper face of the valve. A disk 45 is arranged on the inner face of the diaphragm to cooperate with a flange 46 within the thermostat so as to limit the inward movement of the diaphragm under the action of the spring 30 which acts on the valve. The disk 43 cooperates with the plate {l1 to limit the outward movement of the v diaphragm.

In operation, the spring 30 is adjusted to begin to close the valve 29 at atemperature equal to or slightly below that at which the surroundings of the cooling medium is tobe held. This closing action will take place as soon as the expansive fluid in the thermostat has been cooled by the gas passingfrom the cooling element or coil 5 to a degree equal to the temperature of the room. This causes the pressure in the thermostat to gradually I reduce until the internal pressure of they thermostat is. counterbalanced by the pres-- sure of the spring 30, and, if the pressure in the thermostat still further decreases, the

'valve 29 will gradually close.- As gas pass- I ing from cooling ,elements or coils in rooms maintained at zero temperature will eventually reduce the pressure in the thermostat to a much lower point than gas issuing from cooling elements in a room maintained at freezing point, the counter-pressure spring must in the former 'case be much less in strength than in the latter, and it is for this reason that the adjusting screw 32 becomes an important feature for the regulation of the temperature at which the gas may be permitted to pass the thermostat.

As before pointed out, the temperature of the refrigerant in the cooling element 5 must be held low enough to cooleasily the medium to the desired temperature. Any

additional heating of the medium will be followed by an increased evaporation ofthe refrigerant, and warmer gas passing over the thermostat will result in a larger opening of the valve '29 so that an increased amount of gas will pass to the compressor. On the other hand, the cooling of the medium below the temperature for which the spring 30 has been adjusted will result in a cooler gas passing over the thermostat so that the throttling of the outlet by the valve 29 will take place. As, in the event that ammonia is used, the difference of 1 F. causes,, at the temperatures at which this device must work, a difference of about one pound per square inch pressure 011 the diaphragm 39-, it will readily be understood that, by the described action of this device, a substantially even temperature will be maintained automatically.

The embodiment shown in Fig. 4 operates substantially the same as the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, and comprises a two-part casing 22* and 23flprovidedwith an inlet 25 and an outlet 26. The part 23* has a partition 27* formed with two openings 28'" closed by a valve 29 which is pressed toward its seats by a spring 30- whose tension is adjustable by a screw 32. The foregoing parts are substantially the same as the parts in the embodiment shown in Fig. 3. .The main difference between the two embodiments is the construction of the thermostat which, in this embodiment, has the bellows type of diaphragm, the latter being indicated at 39 and having a head 43 at one end provided with a projection ll cooperating with the valve '29. A head 33 at the opposite end of the diaphragm is provided with a tubular extension 34: which extends to the exterior of the valve casing and has a. plug 319 by which the thermostat may be filled with the expansive fluid. A. shoulder 35 is provided on the head 33 and this shoulder is held in abutment with the valve casing by a packing bushing 36 which engages external threads on the tubular ex- An internal flange ll limits tension 3i. the expansion of the diaphragm. This type of thermostat is as a rule operated by the expansive force of a non-congeal able liquid, such as alcohol. the change of temperature producing by expansion or contraction a change in the length of the bellows.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the control of the necessary admission of the cooling fluid to the cor-ling medium is entirely controlled by the thermostat placed in the pathof the outgoing vapors to be affected by the temperature of the latter so that the thermostat acts upon the opening of the outlet valve and influences thereby the pressure within the cooling element and consequently the action of the inlet valve.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A refrigerating apparatus of the type employing a volatile liquid refrigerant expanding in a cooling element, distinguished by means at the inlet of the coolingelement for maintaining a predetermined pressure of the supply of liquid refrigerant to said ele- .ment, and avalve controllingthe vaporous discharge from said element and in turn controlled by the temperature of said discharge vapor to prevent the passage of saturated gas.

2. A refrigerating apparatus of the type employing a volatile liquid refrigerant expanding in a cooling element, distinguished by a valve at the inlet of the cooling element controlled by a predetermined pressure within said cooling element, and a valve controlling the discharge from said cooling element and controlled by the temperature of the discharge to control the pressure within such cooling element.

3. A refrigerating apparatus of the type employing a volatile liquid -refrigerant expanding in a cooling element, distinguished by a valve controlling the discharge from the cooling element, and a thermostat controlled by the temperature of the discharge fluid and controlling said valve to prevent the passage of saturated gas.

4. A structure according to claim 3 com bined with means for varying the action of the thermostat so that the valve may operate at different temperatures.

A structure according to claim 3 combined with a spring for opposing the action of the thermostat, and means for varying the action of the spring to cause the valve to operate at different temperatures.

GUSTAVE A. WEGNER. 

